Special collections

Simone Barck (1944–2007), literary scholar with a focus on Soviet exile, antifascism, literary history of the GDR, began her work at the future Potsdam Centre for Contemporary History in 1992. The collection comprises her scholarly estate as well as her reference library, cataloged in a separate database.

Friedrich Knilli (b. 1930), media scholar with a focus on radio plays, the representation of Jewish people in the media, and media consulting. The collection contains about 2,400 audio and video recordings in the fields of radio history, media theory and reception research. This includes, in particular, interviews and discussions on the reception of the television miniseries Holocaust (1978) and the feature film Jud Süss (1940). The collection also contains numerous recordings of radio plays, cinematic adaptations of literary works, documentary films, television series, television entertainment shows and news programs from the United States, Germany and Great Britain.

The special collections can be viewed during library opening hours but cannot be checked out.